- Community
Disaster Resilience Strategy to help communities improve their
preparedness and build resilience before, during and after a disaster
- The
strategy is to be incorporated into short, medium, and long-term planning
- Coincides with round five of National Disaster Risk Reduction grant
program
The Cook Government has released Western Australia's Community
Disaster Resilience Strategy which focuses on working with communities
throughout the State to boost their resilience to the effects of a natural
disaster.
WA is
already experiencing the impacts of a changing climate, including flooding,
more frequent and severe bushfires, droughts, heatwaves and rising sea levels.
The
strategy has been compiled by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services
(DFES) in conjunction with the State Emergency Management Committee (SEMC). The
guiding principles have evolved from key learnings and responses from both
local and national communities along with international research.
Emergency
Services Minister Stephen Dawson welcomed the strategy, saying the Government
works closely with the SEMC to support communities and individuals to prepare
for and respond to the impact and recovery from a disaster.
The key
principles of the strategy include:
- Broaden Emergency Management by
increasing engagement with peak bodies and industry groups, creating more
pathways to volunteer and keeping communities informed about risk;
- Work Locally to increase Preparedness
with community planning for recovery and equipping more people with the skills
and understanding to build resilience;
- Collaborate to Reduce Vulnerability through
creating grassroots community processes for communication and building district
support programs to help smaller communities; and
- Heal People and Communities with support
services to help people work through the recovery processes.
The
release of the Community Disaster
Resilience Strategy coincides with round five of the National Disaster Risk
Reduction (NDRR) competitive grant program.
An
allocation of $1.5 million is available in this round. The NDRR is delivered
under a National Partnership Agreement between the WA Government and the
Commonwealth Government.
Eligible
organisations are encouraged to apply for an NDRR grant and showcase how the
Community Disaster Resilience Strategy can be used to provide resilience
building efforts that align with their strategic plans.
More information on the
strategy is available on the SEMC website through this link: Community Disaster Resilience Strategy
Applications
for round five of the NDRR close on 16 January 2024. For more information,
visit https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/state-emergency-management-committee/apply-national-disaster-risk-reduction-grant
Comments attributed to Emergency Services
Minister Stephen Dawson:
"Community safety is a priority for the Cook Government and we've
launched WA's Community Disaster Resilience Strategy to support a collaborative
and community-led approach to disaster resilience.
"With natural disasters
becoming more frequent and more severe because of our changing climate, it is
critical that we help our communities to become more resilient.
"The strategy has evolved
from the key learnings and responses from local communities and communities in
the eastern states as well as international research.
"I encourage eligible
organisations to submit an application for round five of the NDRR to share in
grant funding for projects that make Western Australian communities safer."
